Rogue Pretender
by August Mayhem
Summary: Rogue isn't quite as naive as everyone seems to think. She's never been an X-Men. She's only ever looked out for herself.
1. Chapter 1

Story: Rogue Pretender

Author: August Mayhem

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the setting. Anything that is not is canon of any kind of X-Men is mine. This is a continuous disclaimer and I won't be re-posting it every chapter.

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CHAPTER 1

"Who'll it be kid; us or them?"

She glanced up at the owner of the gruff voice, for once not needing to force a tremble. The cold still had a strong hold on her body.

"If Ah don't say you, ahm Ah gonna get thrown outta thihs jeht?"

There was the slightest hint of a smirk in that hard face. "No. Either we've earned your trust by now, or we haven't."

She didn't want to be an X-Men. She had a basic idea of what it meant and while it seemed heavenly at first, she had learned long ago that nothing ever came for free.

She looked at her clenched hands, trying hard to keep the shivers to a minimum, lest she look weak. But caught herself just after and worried her hands a little more. Hey, if they thought she was a pathetic teen who needed their help, they were more likely to give it.

"Not them."

The stocky man in front of her nodded and moved back to the front of the plane with the Professor.

She knew that this would take extremely careful planning and had the potential to blow up in her face, but hey, that was half the fun! She ducked her head to hide a grin.

*~*~*~*~*

That night she meditated about the X-Men while under the pretense of sleep, until everyone was safely in their dreams. Or nightmares, but that wasn't her problem.

She had been placed in a room with a preppy girl by the name of Kitty. Katherine Pryde really, and her X-Men name was Shadowcat. Apparently she could walk through walls.

She let out a small snort. With a name like Shadowcat, you'd assume her power had something to do with shadows, not becoming intangible. Ah well. A lot of these X-Men dorks had dumb names.

Like Nightcrawler; real name, Kurt Wagner. A furry male specimen of the human, specifically mutant, race; and, oh yes, he was blue. Scott, the moron who'd tried so hard to convince her to join their side, was named Cyclops. Which actually made sense considering his power…and costume.

Yes, **all **the X-men wore _costumes_. Not outfits, not some Superman-hide-it-under-your-normal-clothes-thing, though Kurt probably did that, but _costumes_. And they all looked impossibly stupid!! There was no way she'd ever let herself be put into some spandex-y thing with stupid x's in circles placed randomly about the torso.

The only person she hadn't seen in spandex, not that she wanted to, was the Professor. It was an odd anomaly when speaking about the man. When talking to him directly, he was Professor, or Professor X; but when you spoke of him, he was 'The Professor'. Very irritating really.

She quietly walked over to Kitty's bed gently placed a finger on her bare arm. She had to focus on getting just the smaller girl's power as she was asleep and couldn't do so herself.

After a few minutes, she was satisfied that she had received enough of her power to use for tonight as well as memorize and lock it into her 'vault'. She put on a small pair of shorts that would allow for ease of movement and wouldn't make any noise. A tight tee also ensured no rustling of fabric as she made her rounds of the dorms.

Logan would be last she decided. Or close to the last, but certainly not this early on. He has superior senses and she wouldn't risk her entire operation going up in smoke if he caught her.

Questions would be asked, she would be watched, visually and mentally, and that was unpleasantness that she would greatly love to avoid. A semi-dark grin fell across her mouth as she snuck out into the hallway.

The Rogue was back.

*~*~*~*~*

Having finished her rounds with little problems she made her way back to her shared room. She had almost woken Logan up while absorbing him, but thankfully the brief pain he had felt while she touched him could be attributed to his nightmares. She'd caught a glimpse of them.

She'd been very cautious in his room, no doubt he would be able to smell her when he woke up, so she masked her scent and quickly bamfed into his closet, using her recently renewed teleportation power, courtesy of Kurt and wrapped herself in his clothes.

She would need to make sure she touched everyone with bare skin, while they were awake, sometime soon so as to explain any random displays of their powers. Scott she already had from the previous two times, but felt that another couldn't hurt.

She'd been delighted to find a second mind with that of one Jean Grey. It was a dark mind too! Since she'd first met the pretty Princess of Bayville, and the Xavier Institute, she hadn't liked her. Everything about her was too perfect. She was too pretty, too smart, too nice, too popular with absolutely everyone.

It was delicious to find that she had such a dark mind within her own. Not that Jean Grey was aware of this consciousness, but still, it delighted the Southern belle to know the princess wasn't perfect.

Once safely back in her own room, she began to build her mental shields that would keep her safe from any psychic probing.

She was careful to put all her dark little secrets and thoughts into a locked area of her mind, which was then buried in the ground of her mindscape. She went over it again and again until the once dug up section could not be differentiated from any other area.

Knowing that her sarcastic thoughts and moods would be evident to any passing telepath, she built a tunnel that would connect her main conscious with the closely-guarded mental vault.

Looking at her work, Rogue noticed that there was a gaping black hole that even a novice telepath would notice. Rogue stuck her hands on her hips and scowled. Hell, even Spyke would notice it. And he was absolutely demented; at least from what little she saw of him at school.

Focusing on the black hole, and snorting at her pun, she broke it up into a million little pieces and scattered them across her mindscape. They would act similar to pores, catching all the things she didn't want people to know about and they all had tunnels that were impossibly thin that would trail further and further back, gradually joining up until the thought landed in her vault.

Glancing at the clock, Rogue noted that it had been almost 5 hours since she began her escapade.

Drawing on the other students knowledge of the institute's layout, the young mutant made her way to the kitchen to grab something to eat. It had been almost 24 hours since she last had something in her stomach.

No breakfast the previous day after the simulation, no lunch, 'cause she had no food to pack and it was only slightly impossible to get food on a mountain in a snow storm. And then she'd been lost with Scott for an untold matter of time.

And once they were rescued, she been taken to the medical lab they had on one of the lower floors and had been plugged up with an IV, and unconscious, for the better part of the evening.

Moving around the kitchen with far more grace and experience than one would expect of a newcomer, she began making herself something from home.

*~*~*~*~*

She had just finished mixing everything together when a ragged Logan walked through the door.

"What are you doing up?" His voice was even more gravelly than normal. She jumped, possibly more than strictly necessary, but she could always attribute it to it being her first night here; playing the part of an unsuspicious, startled teenager.

"Logan! Yah startled meh!" She grabbed a wet cloth to wipe up the food she'd spilt.

"What are you doing up this late kid? You should be sleeping off your mountain scare."

She mentally scoffed at the fact that being stuck on a mountain would scare her. She schooled a careful mix of blankness and timidness on her face before shrugging a shoulder.

"Ah'm naht so good with new plahces, yah know? And Ah've got a lot on mah mind." Oh, if only he knew. Logan nodded his shaggy head, grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down at the counter.

Rogue found two plates and dished the food onto them before grabbing two forks and putting a plate in front of Logan. His eyes snapped open as his nose took in the smell of spiced rice with pieces of cooked chicken added in.

He looked over at the young Southern with a raised eyebrow.

She shrugged again. "Allus found eatin' home-cookin' tah be the best thang to get mah mind off sleepless nahghts." A small grin overtook her face as she put the first forkful in her mouth.

Logan took a bite and quickly swallowed so to get more off the tasty food. Savoring the mélange of flavors he looked at the white and russet haired teen.

"What is this? I can taste some herbs, way too much Cajun spice and some lemon."

Big green eyes looked at him in surprise. "Wow sugah! Ah am impressed. Not many people get tha' so soon. If evah!" Rogue mentally narrowed her eyes. His senses were much sharper than she had previously thought. She'd have to be careful around him. Or get on his good side.

"Why is there lemon? It tastes alright but I wouldn't think it would normally be put with the other spices."

"Well Ah actually made Cajun Chicken Liver," Logan almost choked. "But you gahs don't have any o' that. So Ah used the leftover lehmon chicken instead."

Nothing more was said while they finished their food, dumped the dishes in the sink and went back to bed.

*~*~*~*~*

Rogue was woken up by her overly-peppy roommate, not 3 hours later. Forcing herself to get up, her plan to avoid people and come off as grumpy couldn't have gone better. She figured it was because she didn't have to pretend how she felt.

Her late night activities had gone on much later than she had planned and as such didn't get much sleep. But she had started the basics of a relationship with Logan, and that was more than she had hoped for; especially for the first night. They'd have to spend more time together to build that camaraderie she would need. And she had just the plan.

She hadn't brought any of her school things the day before, because of the trip, and they hadn't picked them up last night; so it seemed the Rogue was stuck for the day and would most likely get detention for not having her books.

…Which would really piss her off. She needed a believable lie as to why she didn't have any books… Rogue thought of various possibilities while mindlessly munching on disgustingly sweet cereal, her narrowed eyes glaring at bowl in front of her.

Everyone else stayed away. Jean tried to make conversation but was studiously ignored, though not deliberately. And just as everyone stood up to leave, the Professor's voice rang inside all their heads.

'_Scott, Rogue, I'd like for you two to stay here for the day. Just to make sure there are no residual effects from your excursion yesterday.'_

Rogue halfway snarled. Kitty's eyes widened in alarm and she shifted further away from the gothic girl. Kurt sent a sparing glance at the dark girl, before noticing that Kitty was moving closer to him in an attempt to get away from the girl. He grinned.

'_Damn! Ah cahn't believe Ah spent so much tahme thankin' abou' how to get out of detention when that old mallard was jus' gonna get up an' tell meh tah stay!'_

Once the other teens had left, Rogue and Scott received private instructions to go to the medical lab. The professor would meet them there.

Scott, despite the obvious bad mood she was in, decided he would try to speak with Rogue.

"So you're part of the X-Men now huh?"

Sparking green eyes glared up at him though smoky eye makeup and russet-white hair. Scott gulped and nervously glanced away, making a mental note to never get her angry at him. Even though he was taller and more muscular than she was, he had no doubt that the Southern girl would not hesitate to whup his ass, and good.

_ 'No, Ah ahm not a part o' the X-Men, yah moron! But I don' __**need**__ y'all as mah enemies! 'Sides, long as y'all thahnk Ah'm with you, ya won' bothah meh abou' whose sahde Ah'm reallah on! An' Ah get free food and a comfeh bed outta all thehs.' _

She was glad the telepathic, red-headed bint had left for school already. She'd really need to focus her thoughts and mental defenses against 'The Professah'. Or maybe, a finger tapped her lips, unaware that Scott was watching her movements in mild interest.

_'Mehbeh Ah could just pretend tha' a nat'ral mental defehnse is a par' o' mah pow'rs.' _

A grin threatened to break out. _'At least until someone brehks through…Or Ah let mah guard down… Aw hell, i's just gonna be too much trouble to be on guard alla tahme.'_

The Logan in her head sent a rumble about how he was on guard all the time. Rogue flicked him with a mental finger. _'Yer also insane sugah. Ah rathah lahke the way Ah ahm.'_ She ignored the roll of his eyes. And promptly bumped into Scott's back.

When exactly he had gotten in front of her she didn't know. She knew even less about why let alone when he stopped. Though sensibly the "when" would have to have been shortly before she bumped into him, otherwise she would have undoubtedly been lost in the large mansion.

"Rogue? We're here."

"Yehs, Ah can see thaht, thahnk yah! Heaven knows th' only othah rehson yah'd stop short' is cause Miss Red suddenly decahded to strip in public. Or privahte. Whichever yah prefer."

Wide, startled eyes followed the darkly clothed young woman as she moved passed him to sit on a couch in the Professor's office. A small smirk made its way across Scott face as he moved into the room and shut the door behind him.

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_Wide, startled eyes followed the darkly clothed young woman as she moved passed him to sit on a couch in the Professor's office. A small smirk made its way across Scott face as he moved into the room and shut the door behind him. _

*~*~*~*~*

The Professor just wanted to chat with them about the experience they'd 'shared' together and Rogue mentally rolled her eyes; Logan did too. Well it's not like they volunteered or anything. Circumstances kinda happened to push them together.

Once the mental check-points were passed they merrily made their way down to the med. lab, chatting about school and classes and training/Danger Room sessions. Well, Scott and the Professor did, Rogue went off to her vault to think and plan, setting her body on autopilot and targeting Scott for directions.

She reviewed the potential candidates for her scheme and came across Carole Schmidtt. She was an early thirties, blonde-haired, blue-eyed legal counselor from Germany. She came to the US to escape her abusive ex-husband when she was 28. According to her papers anyway.

According to Rogue, she was just another tool, however fictional, in a myriad of useful talents. When she had first started running, she came across a mutant who called herself Mimic. Her real name was Monique, Mimi for short. Rogue had been in a panicky flight and crashed into Mimi, her hand wrapped around the frail wrist of the other mutant.

Painful memories of a harsh life on the streets danced across her memory as she called Mimi to the fore. The young girl, about the same age as Rogue at that time, had been drained into a coma, and later died on the streets as the weather became colder and colder.

In the past, Rogue used Mimi's illusions and make-up to look like the people she was impersonating or creating. Now that she had absorbed Mystique, She could fully morph into those people. Her own power gave access to memories and important information, Mystique allowed her to look like them.

Rogue absently answered the Professor's questions about how she was feeling physically and surrendered herself to his medical ministrations. When he finally deemed them in perfect health and left, she almost jumped for joy. The only reason she didn't, Scott was standing beside her and grinning as if he knew what she wanted to do. That and she had that whole I-am-goth-and-bad-tempered-and-don't-like-people attitude going on…

Safe to say, she did her best to avoid the only other people in the mansion, which amounted to two, for the rest of the day and failed miserably. Scott quite easily said that the Professor had asked him to show her around, when she threatened him for answers.

She growled and prayed that the other students would get here soon. Scooter was driving her up the wall!

_'Hmmm, Scooter…Kindah lahke thaht nahme. Alrahght, "Cyclops" you got yourself a new nicknahme!' _

Scott didn't see her evil smirk and continued blithely on, talking about what the Professor did for young mutants and how things evolved and grown since he came here almost ten years ago.

"Speakin' of tehn years ahgo, don' most kids learn how ta use their pow'rs bah thaht tahme? How come you still got them shades?"

Scott was startled by her question and it showed on his face before he turned away from her, and the previously jovial mood now tense and somber. He didn't really want to share his past with a girl that was pretty much a stranger.

Rogue noticed the cold shoulder she was getting and didn't even try to hide the hurt in her voice.

"Rahght. Yer whole, 'gang secrecy thahng'. I understand thaht."

"No! Rogue, that's not what I-" Scott tried to stop her as she got up, mentally smacking himself for once again alienating the girl, however accidental.

"It's fahne Scott! Ah geht it okay? You got yer little X-Men buddies an' y'all got yer secrets thaht ya don' wanna share with th' new kid who, just yesterdahy was yer enemy. Trust meh, if there's only one thahng in the world Ah un'erstand, it's thaht." She quickly walked away and tried not to feel the hurt his obvious mistrust had caused.

Scott cursed at himself for pushing the girl further outside than she probably already felt. Not two days ago she had been the enemy in their simulation; she recently found out she had been played by Mystique; and now the people who were supposed to be her allies, were treating her as if she were still the enemy, someone to keep information from.

"Nice one Scott. Make her feel even more like an outsider. Damnit!"

He ran a hand through his hair, wondering if he should go after the Southern belle or wait and try to patch things up later. Despite his wanting to fix it right now, he knew that girls didn't think the same way guys did.

But Scott also knew that the longer he left it, the longer she would stew the thoughts in her head and that had a potentially disastrous outcome. In the end he decided to go talk to the Professor.

*~*~*~*~*

"And what did you want from me Scott?"

Another hand ran through already mussed locks. The young man breathed a sigh. "I dunno Professor. Can't you give me some girl advice?"

An amused look settled across the older man's face. He'd figured Scott would have female problems. Though he, and most likely everyone else, assumed the problems would be with Jean; as the two were considered the unofficial couple of Xavier Institute.

"Usually when a male makes an error in regards to a female, he tries to get back into her good graces with a gift and an apology."

Scott deadpanned the Professor. "Good graces? I don't think I was there to begin with!" He flopped against the plush beige couch.

"And supposing I did get her something, I don't even know what she likes! What are you supposed to get a girl who you've been trying to get on your side for several weeks, but always end up making her the enemy; who also ends up saving your life; while the only thing you know about her is her mutant power and her name!?"

He had risen from the couch and began pacing shortly after the first sentence. Pacing was soon accentuated with flinging arms trying to punctuate certain points; and a rise in volume made the points even clearer.

Charles chuckled at his young student. He had known Scott for almost ten years, since he was a child. And in all that time, and no one had ever been able to ruffle his feathers like this, except for Logan and that was fairly recent.

Perhaps the obvious couple of Jean and Scott was not quite as obvious as he had previously thought.

"Why don't you search the internet for foods from the south, Mississippi to be exact, or flowers, something that would remind her of home?"

Scott had stopped pacing and waving his arms around once he heard the Professor put out his suggestion. A light lit Scott's eyes and he called out a 'thanks' as he scrambled to the library.

Knowing that all females liked chocolate, he searched, and found, a few recipes that he thought wouldn't be too hard to make. Making a list of things he would need, he grabbed his jacket raced to the nearest big city. He didn't think that the store in town would have what he wanted.

*~*~*~*~*

It was a nearing three in the afternoon when Scott finished in the kitchen. Rogue, so far, had yet to show her face. It had been almost four hours since he had cause Rogue to walk away from him.

The kitchen was a mess and he wanted to give the food to Rogue before everyone else came home. Quickly he put the rum, liqueur and bourbon back where he had found it and shoved all his used dishes into one area. He'd clean up after he'd given her the box of chocolate.

He ran up to his room to transfer the plate of confections into a black and silver box shaped like pentagram. No ribbons were in sight, since he wasn't giving this in a romantic sense; and a bouquet of flowers were kept fresh in a large cup that he had snatched from the kitchen when he had first arrived back.

Once the lid had been closed, and the flowers tied together, Scott mentally called out to the Professor. When he replied Scott asked him if he could locate Rogue. Calling another quick thanks to his mentor, Scott raced downstairs to the seldom used stable.

Trying to walk quietly, so as not to startle either the horses or Rogue, he came across the sight of Rogue, wearing a cropped, black, boat-neck tee and a pair of black riding pants, with shiny black riding boots protecting her feet from splinters, gently brushing and talking to the liver chestnut stallion everyone stayed away from.

Logan was the only person he'd let near him and Logan rarely stopped by as he had little patience for the oft-rebellious horse. Soft murmurings reached his ears and his eyes widened when Rogue's bare skin touched and stroked the stallion's sides and back.

Rogue whirled around at the gasp and found an open-mouthed Scott staring at her. Her eyes hardened.

"Whaht do ya want? Ah'm stayin' outta yer way as much as possible so ya don' haftah be aroun' th' enemy!"

Scott winced at the venom in her words. He tried to find a way to change the topic so the tension might leave off a little.

"I thought you couldn't touch living beings." Scott couldn't shut his mouth fast enough and smacked his forehead with his free hand. Rogue's eye narrowed at his words and turned back to the horse in front of her.

"Ah can't touch skin." Scott mentally thanked whatever gods had let him escape from that idiocy with no marks. He looked at the peace that was settling back over her face as she moved the brush along the horse's back, following the grain of the hairs.

"How'd you get so close to him anyway? The only one who can get near him is Logan, and even then that's a struggle."

Rogue didn't bother to glance at the male teen to her left. "Thaht's for meh ta know, and you ta wahnder abou'." She smirked at him.

Scott smiled in return, and then ran a hand through his hair.

"Hey Rogue…About this morning-"

"It's fahne Scott, Ah don' wanna talk about it."

"No, Rogue, please! I _do_ want to talk about it." Another hand ran through his hair. "Look, I'm really sorry about earlier today. I truly didn't mean for that to happen. It's just…some really personal things happened in my past that led to my inability to control my powers…and it's not that I don't want to share it with you…It's just intensely personal."

He sighed. "The only people who know are Jean and the Professor. The Professor knows because he searched my past after locating me through Cerebro, and Jean only knows because she accidentally went too far into my memories while learning to control her own powers."

He looked up at the gothic beauty that had moved to stand several feet in front of him. The horse had followed her and placed his head on her shoulder. It was on odd sight, seeing the massive horse rest on the petit, dancer-esque form of the Southern girl.

He pulled the flowers and box of treats out from behind his back.

"Here; I felt really stupid about what I did this morning so I figured a few reminders of home would maybe make you feel better..."

Rogue stared at the beautiful arrangement of gorgeous yellows, golds, oranges and reds that filled the bouquet in her hands. Sunflowers, Gaillardias and Strawflowers stared back at her. Well they were beautiful, and they did remind her of home. They also reminded her of her allergy to them.

Scott took the bouquet after she half sneezed them out of her grip and instead handed her the black and silver box. Careful not to touch his hands, Rogue took the box and opened the lid. She let out a gasp as her eyes took in the sight before her. Well that _definitely_ reminded her of home.

Scott smiled when he heard her gasp; females usually did that when they were surprised by something they liked or had just received. He frowned when more gasps came, faster and faster, as Rogue began to hyperventilate.

The box of Cherry Rum balls, Orange balls and Raspberry bonbons clattered to the stable floor. Scott reached out to grab Rogue's shoulders to help her calm down but was swatted aside by surprisingly strong arms.

Scott stumbled to the floor and momentarily lost his ruby quartz shades. Eye shut tight, he felt around the stable floor until nimble fingers grasped them and put them on. He glanced up at Rogue and hurriedly stood up.

Rogue, seeing the downed vision of her father get up, screamed in fear and blindly attacked. A booted foot lashed out and caught Scott in the jaw, again knocking his shades to the ground. As he stooped to pick them up, a black-clothed knee came out of nowhere to jam into his ribs.

Doubled over in pain, Scott could do nothing to stop the Rogue as she turned and ran into the forest surrounding Xavier's large estate. Mentally calling out to the Professor, Scott notified him of the recent events and started to go after her.

Charles mentally called Wolverine from the Danger Room and passed on the details, asking him to help Scott in the recovery of Rogue.

Dashing out of the Danger Room, Logan ran out of the mansion and to the stable to catch the fresh trail. Even though he had his misgivings about letting her join the X-Men, she seemed to have realized that Mystique was using her; and it Charles' decision anyway.

*~*~*~*~*

Scott had traced the broken limbs and wild running pattern as best he could for the first quarter mile before Wolverine caught up with him. He was thankful that it was a sunny day, as it would have been so much harder had it been cloudy, or worse, raining.

"Which way kid?" Scott glanced over at Logan and was startled by his even more feral than usual look.

"I traced her for a while, but about five minutes ago the trail began to blur and discontinue. I don't know where she went!"

Wolverine lifted his head and sniffed the air. Lightning had recently charged the air and the wind began to move erratically in every direction. A strong gust buffeted the two X-Men and they struggled against its force.

"She's using her powers kid! The ones she's gotten from other mutants! She's outta control! Move it kid, we gotta find her!"

As the wind, and soon the rain that joined it, effectively erased any help they might've had from Wolverine's nose, the two wandered blindly through the now dark forest.

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	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'd like to apologize for being away for the past month (October '09). I had midterms each and every week for the past 5 weeks... And just because it's the last month of school, teachers like to give us projects. I will do my best to make up what I've lost, in terms of giving you all new chapters, but please don't take that as written in stone.

Thanks for reading!

August Mayhem

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Chapter 3

_As the wind, and soon the rain that joined it, effectively erased any help they might've had from Wolverine's nose, the two wandered blindly through the now dark forest. _

*~*~*~*~*

Furious thunderheads had gathered and covered the once blue sky, hurricane winds thrashed the trees about and the rains lashed out at any living thing that dared to be in their way.

By pure luck, Wolverine and Scott stumbled upon a small hilltop, the Rogue floating above the rocky outcrop.

Her hair had lengthened to her waist and the curly mass was whipping about in the wind, dancing in the air. Her clothes had shifted from her riding attire to the costume of a wind rider.

Her cropped tee was now a sheet of black fabric that wrapped around her breasts and then turned sheer as it wound around her arms to fall off in the sky, dancing on the wind. Cords tied around her tiny waist, braided in some parts and beaded in others.

A small string bikini bottom covered her essentials, and a black piece of fabric tied on a string wrapped around the back half of her lower body. Small gold and green bangles danced around her ankles, similar to the ones on her wrists.

No other decoration adorned her body, but her hands swept the skies and she delighted in the chaos that was ruling the heavens. Electricity danced along her skin and hair, her once dark green eyes alight with an unearthly emerald glow. There were no pupils, and her eyes looked like Storm's when she used her weather powers.

As her eyes fell upon the two males in her domain, Scott fervently wished that Storm had not gone with Evan to his parents' house for his father's surgery. And then immediately took that wish back; if it had been his brother, of course he would've wanted to be there.

Scott had no idea what to do; he had no wish to use his optic blasts to knock her from the sky. A gust of wind almost blasted him from his feet and Rogue laughed as her arms finished its sweep to direct the wind.

Scott gulped, her control had improved greatly from the first time she'd used Storm's powers. So even if he did blast her, she'd probably be bent on smacking him around a bit. And probably much harder than he'd hit her.

As the small boy-child was pushed out of sight, the Rogue focused her attention on the rough man down below her. Using the winds to gently float down, she approached him and floated a few feet away, just in case. One could never tell with men.

"Who are you? Why are here?" Her accent had disappeared.

"Rogue? It's me, Logan. I'm with Scott." The Rogue clutched her head as images flashed through her mind. Logan, a strong, tough man; suddenly in an orange and black outfit, sharp adamantium claws snaking out and swiping at her.

She screamed, grabbed her head and tumbled to the ground. Scott, a tall male, about her age, ruby quartz glasses which could also be a visor; both let out burning red blasts. Both men had hunted her, had attacked her, had tried to hurt her.

"Nooooooo!!"

Logan tried to get near her as she screamed, worried about what was going on. Emerald eyes snapped open on his advancing form and she thrust her arms out. A cyclone of wind and rain hurled against Wolverine as he was forced back and thrown into a tree.

Falling to the ground, a body-shaped dent was left behind. His senses warned him of the immediate attack and he just barely missed dodging a series of lightning bolts.

He looked up into flashing emerald eyes; eyes that were now narrowed in anger and revenge.

"You dare try to attack me again! You pitiful pup! No one attacks the Rogue!" Her voice was a strange combination of her normal voice, sans accent, and a hoarse whisper.

Barely flicking her fingers, objects lifted from the soggy ground and flung themselves at the stocky man. Rain continued to blast him and lightning danced in erratic patterns, forcing Wolverine to dodge several things at once. He was slowly being worn down.

Scott stood up from where he'd knocked his head and was just in time to see Rogue, still floating, calmly as ever, create a hailstorm of sharp metal pieces from nothing and hurl them at the hunched form of Wolverine.

"Logan!" He suddenly wished he'd kept his mouth shut as glowing eyes focused on him.

Rogue focused on the young man who called out and her mind brought forth memories of a small black and silver box that contained small chocolate confections. Confections that were used to drug her and keep her quiet and un-resistant while her father-

She quickly blocked that thought and targeted the male with the ruby shades. Thunder clapped throughout the sky and lightning flashed, echoing its mistress' anger. Turning away from the downed man in front of her, Rogue began to unleash every power she had ever taken and manifested.

Her hands glowed and shot off sparks; elemental manifestations arced around her body and trailed her destructive path toward Scott Summers.

*~*~*~*~*

The storm had spread from the forest to the rest of Bayville and many students who had walked to school in beautiful sunshine were now miserably wet as they waited for parents or caught rides with friends.

They students from Xavier's Institute knew that such a storm could only have appeared that fast if a mutant was involved.

"Jean, like what's going on? I totally thought Storm was like, away with Evan. Why'd she come back?"

Jean looked at Kitty, "I dunno Kitty. Maybe the Professor called her back for some reason."

"Und maybe zhat reason is somevone is attacking zhe mansion!"

The three raced to Scott's car, he had let them take it today, and drove as fast as possible, while still within the law, to their home. Upon arrival, the Professor called them up to his study.

"Professor? What's going on? Why is Storm back?"

"Jean, Kitty, Kurt, calm down, please. Storm has not come back. She is still with Evan and her family for her brother-in-law's surgery."

"So ve have a new mutant vith similar powers to Storm's zhen? Iz it a young mutant? Zhe storm seems a little out of control."

"It's not a new mutant, Kurt. It's Rogue."

"Rogue!"

"The new girl? Like what's up with her?"

"Everyone please! Calm down. Something took place this afternoon; I'm not entirely sure what. Scott didn't give me anything more than the basics and I couldn't get anything from his mind when I tried.

"Logan has joined Scott in the hunt for Rogue. She ran away after attacking Scott-"

"I like, totally knew we shouldn't have trusted her!"

"Her mind is confused Kitty, I don't think she realized it was Scott she was attacking. That being said, I need you three to suit up and go find them. I can't find Logan's mind, he might have been knocked unconscious, and Scott is facing Rogue by himself. I can give you a general direction, but you will have to find them on your own."

The three young students bolted for the door.

"And try not to harm each other, especially Rogue. She is in a fragile state."

*~*~*~*~*

Scott was getting tired. Hell he'd been tired fifteen minutes ago. The Professor had told him that help was on its way, but Scott only vaguely heard him. Paying attention to distractions could be bad for his overall health when fighting the Rogue.

And yes, he _had_ learned that lesson through experience. He did his best to fight her physically, but either she'd touched someone who had amazing hand-to-hand skills or she had a lot more secrets than anyone knew.

And then of course he had to dodge or fight back against her powers. Her control of the weather continued to bludgeon him and while she didn't use fire unless they were fighting up close, her manipulation of greenery was more than pissing him off.

The very trees bowed to her every whim. Roots uplifted, branches whipped around and vines ensnared him. Scott was briefly thankful that she couldn't control the rocks. Of course, that thought was quite literally knocked out of his head when Rogue used telekinesis to throw a boulder at him.

But comparing her personality from now to what he briefly saw before she noticed him, it was a completely different person. She had seemed, calm and in control before. Now she was laughing maniacally, her voice unnatural and her eyes held a mad glint in them.

She kept yelling at him and laughed gleefully when he was struck down, always calling him Robert.

"How does it feel Robert? Knowing that I can do this to you? Knowing that I'm the one in control, I'm the one with the power!" She cackled and Scott shivered at the sound.

Her accent had been absent when she first began attacking him. But the gleefully insane voice tied in with hissing whisper undertones and Rogue's naturally soft voice did more than enough to freak him out.

Rogue's lithe body suddenly lunged forward, an arm pulled back in a fist, Logan's bone claws protruding from between her knuckles. Scott blasted a beam in her direction, but she crouched and jumped forward.

Just as Scott turned his head to minimalize impact, the nails swept past his face, one barely nicking his chin. The wind resulting from the swipe rushed past his face and he opened his eyes to see a struggling Rogue being held in a telekinetic bubble by a struggling Jean. Kurt bamfed behind him and got him out of the Rogue's path. Kitty walked over the hill with Logan somewhat leaning on her.

"Jean! Kurt! Kitty! Logan! You're here! Oh thank god!" His limbs withered in relief and he sunk to the muddy, wet ground. Logan was seated beside him. Rogue had absorbed him after he fell, so he was hit with a double whammy.

Being knocked unconscious by a wisp of girl was a mite embarrassing for him. Course, then said girl had to send him deeper into the black oblivion by stealing his powers. This also meant that he didn't have enough to heal quickly and was, for the time being, stuck next to Cyke. Who was gonna get a step up in training if Logan had anything to do with it.

For him to be this exhausted after such a short time, obviously his training wasn't hard enough. But over the next fifteen minutes of watching the other X-Men try to take down Rogue he supposed he could give the kid a little credit.

Those three were having a hard enough time even though they could rely on each other, and they'd only been at it for five, maybe ten minutes. Cyke had fought her one-on-one, and for almost half and hour.

'_Damn, crazy chick knocked me out good!'_

Rogue used telepathy to follow Nightcrawler's movements and struck the area would he would bamf into. Kitty could get close to Rogue, climbing up the trees and jumping while her back was turned.

But the Rogue froze her in a telepathic bubble, sent a large shot of power into the bubble and then closed the connection. The invisible sphere that encased Kitty gently floated to the ground and then rested slightly away from everyone else.

All the while, she called out taunts to the three students, mocking them for the inadequate abilities. Jean was by far giving Rogue the most trouble and the two were duking it out in a telekinetic battle, though Rogue seemed to have a slight advantage.

She had more powers at her disposal, but Jean had more control and technique with hers.

"IS THIS ALL YOU HAVE ROBERT? YOU SEND YOUR **DOGS** TO GET ME!? THEY CAN'T EVEN ACCOMPLISH THAT! YOU HAVE **NO** POWER ROBERT!"

Her voice was mocking now. She quickly shifted herself to the space behind Jean and used a move from Logan's repertoire to pinch a nerve in Jean's neck.

She turned back to face Scott and Logan. Logan moved to stand up but Rogue blasted him out of her way. She encased the fallen Jean in a telepathic bubble and then moved it and settled it on top of Logan, quickly absorbing his unconscious form into the bubble as well.

Kurt was bound and wrapped in chains that sparked with enough electricity to keep from focusing on using his teleportation ability.

Rogue calmly walked toward Scott, the rain sliding off her telepathic shield. While everyone else was soaking wet, she remained dry and beautiful in the midst of the chaotic elements.

Boulders, trees, anything Rogue had held up with telekinesis now fell to the forest floor. As they hit the earth, great waves of water and mud rose up from the ground and still she walked through, floating a few inches above the ground, the wind gently dancing through her hair and clothes.

How she was not cold Scott would never figure out. Rogue fell down on her knees in front of him, mouth twisted into a sneer.

"Is that all you could do Robert? After everything you've ever put me through, this is the best you can do!?"

Her voice was becoming more and more hysterical in its desperation and anger. But underlying everything, Scott could feel the hurt she had suffered from the one named Robert.

A silver blade glinted as lightning flashed, Rogue seemed to like Storm's powers the most, and the hurt Scott had sympathized with turned into his own fear.

A dark look crossed Rogue's face and she settled her mind into ridding herself of a nightmare.

"Ah'm gonna kahll ya Rob'rt. Jus' lahke ya trahd ta do all those years ago. It won' be quick an' Ah promus ya it'll be painful. Ah'll mahke ya pay f'r whaht ya did ta me."

Scott was absolutely terrified. This wasn't Rogue, this thing-this creature in front of him was not the shy, keep-to-herself-I-don't-care-what-others-think-about-me Rogue he had come to know in the past weeks.

Desperate for some way, any way to stop the knife from entering his body Scott quickly pulled the girl into his arms. Surprised by the action Rogue didn't move for a moment, but once her surprise was over, she struggled like nothing else.

The blade, still in her hand, made a few long gashes along Scott's arms. Hoping against hope, that what he would do next would work, Scott pulled her face around, leaving one of her arms free, and kissed her full on the mouth.

Rogue feeling the pressure on one arm leave, switched the knife into her free hand shoved the blade into the closest body part she could before Scott's lips crashed down on hers.

Her skin began absorbing his power and energy immediately and Scott almost slumped over with the drain, but his limbs, locked around hers, held him in position.

Rogue confused as she was, felt Scott's energy seep into her. In an attempt to stop the flow she pushed back with her powers and Scott's mind was suddenly connected to hers.

Memories of her past flowed into Scott's mind and he saw the nightmare Robert that haunted Rogue; he saw what she suffered by his hand; that he used to rape her and sell her body using drugged confections.

Memories of a girls home, where children were beaten and abused, sexually, mentally, physically, flashed through his mind. Her responsibility of four girls and two boys, all younger than her own nine years, as they escaped and tried to survive. And the death of all six of them, by her own hand.

Memories of pain and suffering, aging the young girl into a much older being. The development of her powers, her absorption of so many, the insanity caused by the ever growing number of personalities trapped in her head.

Rogue saw all the memories too. She and Scott were spectators in this never-ending film of memories. Wanting to hide herself as she was exposed so blatantly, wanting to keep some part of her for herself, she wrenched herself away and blasted Scott so they were forced apart.

And suddenly the drain from using all those powers, and for such a prolonged period of time, sucked the energy right out of the dark teen and her body crumpled on the cold, wet ground.

One of the last things Rogue saw before her eyes closed were arms, covered in a torn blue sweater, moving down to pick her up. As her head lolled to the side, she could vaguely make out three telepathic bubbles gently bobbing behind them before the black crawled up the sides of her vision and then swallowed it completely.

----------


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: My apologies over being absent for so long and not updating. I received a new laptop for Christmas and haven't yet begun the transference of all my documents. In addition, midterms are starting (ridiculous I know) and have been working on a few papers.

Hopefully you will enjoy this, and the next chapter (which should be up in a few days) as much as you have thus far! Thanks again for reading!

--

_One of the last things Rogue saw before her eyes closed were arms, covered in a torn blue sweater, moving down to pick her up. As her head lolled to the side, she could vaguely make out three telepathic bubbles gently bobbing behind them before the black crawled up the sides of her vision and then swallowed it completely._

*~*~*~*~*

Scott carefully laid the form of an unconscious Jean on the hospital bed. She had been the last that Scott brought into the infirmary. Four other beds were taken up by Logan, Kurt and Kitty. Rogue's bed was sectioned off from the others and had several tubes connecting to machines leading out from the body on the bed.

Logan had regained enough conscious to stagger from the telepathic bubble Rogue had placed him in, to the hospital bed. Personally, Scott was very glad for that as he did not have a manipulative power. His was point and shoot.

With all the powers he had received from Rogue (an unintentional thing to be sure; he hadn't even known it was possible) he really had to focus on specific things in order to have them done.

He'd dropped Logan a few times on the way back, but had caught him before he hit the ground. Scott had walked through the forest and then flown to the Institute once the trees thinned out. The powers were slowly leaving him.

Professor X called him into Rogue's area after Scott finished making sure everyone else was fine as could be at the moment.

"I want to talk to you about what happened. I only know that something sent Rogue's mind into a panicked state before almost disappearing completely. Despite her nearness, Cerebro was unable to discover her location.

"If you are willing, I'd like to scan your memories for the events that took place."

Scott nodded his head and pulled a chair up to the Professor to sit down. Taking a breath, he cleared his mind and then focused on the events that had taken place earlier this afternoon.

Memories of talking to Rogue in stable, offering her flowers and confections, the brief fight; the flight after her; meeting with Logan; being knocked out; seeing Logan knocked out and fighting her again; having the X-Men come to help him; hearing her words; watching her walk towards him; seeing the silver blade and hearing her intentions- being blasted apart; picking Rogue up; carrying everyone back to the mansion.

Scott edited his memories so the Professor wouldn't see Rogue's past. He didn't really need to see it and anyway, it wasn't his to share.

"It seems part of your memory was not clear. You and Rogue were fighting and then suddenly you were wrapped around each other and she flung you apart. Was there something else you wanted to show me?"

Scott looked at the Professor and saw in him something he never had before. It wasn't enough to be distrustful but he was wary.

"No Professor. That was everything."

The Professors eyes narrowed the slightest bit and then relaxed. His star student trusted him and also knew to respect people's privacy. Perhaps he had seen something that he didn't feel was his to share. That was probably it.

"It's been a long day Scott, why don't you get some rest. You do have classes tomorrow."

Scott nodded and said goodnight to the Professor as he wheeled himself out of the infirmary. Scott followed his image until the darkness swallowed him up and then turned to make one last check on the others.

Logan's healing factor had kicked in and he would probably be fully recovered before anyone else. Kitty had no injuries beyond a few small bruises and an induced sleep.

Jean had been forcefully knocked out and while he trusted that Logan knew what he was doing, Rogue hadn't exactly been sane when she did so. And even then, she had fallen from almost twenty feet in the air.

Kurt, he wasn't exactly sure what had happened to Kurt, but there was blood on the stomach of his suit, though it had dried by now. And Rogue, Scott turned around to look at the partition; Rogue had probably gone through worse things than all of them.

Jean had the worst of the physical injuries, but mental ones he knew, could be just as if not far more damaging. Slipping through the curtain he pulled the chair to his spot at her side.

Steepling his fingers, he looked at the pale skin that on any other person would make them look dead and thought about the day they'd shared.

"If yer fehling guilty abou' whaht happened, Ah can really hurt ya yuh know."

Scott looked up, startled, and saw a faint smile on Rogue's face. Her eyes were still closed, but she had once more absorbed him and probably knew very well how his mind worked by now.

"Yes, well, I think I'm allowed to feel guilty over something I caused."

"Oh! So ya purposely dug inta mah past to find out mah deepest, darkest fears so you could torment meh and drahve meh to th' point of insanity?"

There was no condemnation in her voice, just mild curiosity.

"What! No! Rogue, no! I would never do something like that!"

The smile came back. "Ah know sugah. Keep ya voice down. There're othahs in this damned room too."

Scott blushed at the admonishment and was glad Rogue had her eyes closed.

"How'd Ah get back here anyhow?"

Scott used the tiny trickle of telepathy that still remained and showed her what he'd done.

"So ya got ev'rything Ah used to block the transfer huh?"

"Yeah. Still not entirely sure about what happened. Maybe the Professor could-"

"The Professah! Scott did you tell him? Did he find out about-" Scott covered her mouth with his hand and gently pushed her back onto the bed.

"No, I took that part out of my memory when I showed him the day's events."

Rogue breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed back into the not-so-cushy bed.

"Ummm…Rogue…About today…I really am sorry about-"

"Don' worry abou' it sugah. Ya couldna known that Ah was allergic to those flow'rs."

Scott quirked an eyebrow. "The…flowers?" He briefly remembered that she'd had a sneezing fit shortly upon receiving the bouquet he'd bought for her.

"Yeah…Rogue? I was talking about giving you the chocolates that Robert used to drug you up, thus sending you into a panicky flight that almost ended up in you killing people, or you being killed by your own powers."

His voice was dry and only the tiniest bit sardonic.

She chuckled, "Yeah, Ah knew whaht you were talking abou'. I jus' don' really wanna thahnk about whaht Ah did today."

Her voice was thick with remorse and guilt. Scott looked down at her.

"Hey, how about we both agree we're to blame and then get some sleep. Cause I dunno about you, but I'd rather have a good night's rest before having to face school tomorrow after all this."

Rogue glanced up at him and gave a half-smile. "Yeah, okay. Thahnks Scooter." She closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep, so that she didn't the widening of Scott's eyes, or feel his hand on her hair, gently brushing it before leaving.

*~*~*~*~*

As it turned out, everyone stayed home from school the next day. Rogue, Jean and Kurt were still unconscious, though Rogue had Logan's healing factor to help her along and awoke sporadically throughout the day.

Ororo and Evan came back in the early evening and found out what they had missed. Ororo was worried, Evan was sorry he had missed the action. He totally would've handled everything much better. Or so he said.

Kitty was up and about, diligently taking care of Kurt. Rogue knew that she cared more about the furry, blue male than she let on; and figured that (in the future) she would push those affections on someone else in an attempt to stay away from what she considered dangerous emotions.

She just seemed like that kind of girl, perfect grades, a goody-two shoes, very normal. Too bad she was a mutant.

Jean finally woke up found out that she could hide her bruises by wearing her jeans and a long sleeve tee. Thankfully her gym class took place that very day, so she wouldn't have it tomorrow and the bruises should be sufficiently faded by Thursday.

Kurt also woke up and the Professor found a long, but shallow gash along his stomach. The fur surrounding the cut had protected it, but absorbed the blood, making it seem worse than it was.

Logan had been up at the crack of dawn, like always, and was working out in the danger room. A little more than upset that Rogue had managed to take him out. Twice.

Rogue woke up the following morning with no recollection of the previous days' events. When Scott came by around 7am she was changing out of the hospital gown she'd been put in.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

Rogue, mildly confused and now startled beyond belief, whirled around, and promptly fell. One leg in a pair of black skinny jeans and the other foot part-way through. Oh, and she had no shirt on.

Scott lunged forward to catch her before she hit her head on the bed's metal frame, but stepped on the hospital gown Rogue had tossed on the floor. The resulting scenario was Scott slipping forward and falling on Rogue, pushing her to the ground. He ended up with one of his legs between hers and his hands on either side of her head.

And Rogue still had no shirt on when Jean walked through the curtain to check on Rogue on Professor X's orders. She froze when she saw the position they were in and a not so dainty blush crossed her cheeks.

Scott was still too shocked from the position he had landed in to notice Jean and Rogue wasn't sure if she should push Scott off and stand or grab something that was near and cover herself, or pull close to Scott and hide her nakedness beneath him.

"Yeah...Scott? Yer girlfriend just walked in…" Apparently her mouth decided to choose for her. Jean blushed even more at her comment and Rogue rolled her eyes.

_ 'Oh pleahse, jus' hook up. Everyone knows ya both lahke each other.'_

"But I don't have a girlfriend." Jean looked down at Scott's words. Rogue rolled her eyes again.

"Well comfy as Ah am, lyin' on a cold, tiled floor with no shirt on, Ah'd really lahke it if ya could mebbe, oh Ah dunno, _move_ Scooter?"

Scott blinked and Rogue yanked his left arm toward her and pushed his right shoulder so he would fall on his back, away from the metal frame. It was a move she'd learned from Cody's wrestling memories.

Standing up she finished pulling the jeans on, grabbed the black tank and pulled a dark red sweater over top of it. Her hair was still a long and curly mess.

"Why in hell's fahre are you two down here anyway?"

Jean and Scott both turned to look at her.

"We came to see if you were okay…"

Rogue looked at them as if they were crazy. "Ah'm fahne. Why wouldn' Ah be?"

"Uh...from everything you went through yesterday…?"

The Rogue sent a fierce glare to Scott that made him cringe and take a step back.

"Yeah, joining you retards after fahnding out Mystique was using meh. Ah **must** need help now, cause heaven knows Ah can' **adjust** bah mahself!" She pushed her way through the curtain muttering about moronic X-Men.

"Hey wait! That's not nice!"

Jean took a step back as Rogue gave a Logan-like growl.

"Look Red, it's far too early in the morning to be dealing with your perfectness in absolutely everything. Suffice to say that I don't particularly care if I hurt yours, Scooter's or anyone else's feelings. The elf is the one that's forever trying to make people feel good; not me. Now leave me alone."

Scott looked at Jean, "Is it just me, or did she sound a lot like Logan?"

She gave him a wide-eyes look. "Not just you." She raised an eyebrow. "Scooter?"

Scott blushed and looked away, hoping it wasn't noticeable. "I have no idea where she came up with that."

"Uh huh…" Jean didn't believe him and smirked. Scott pushed past her to go tell the Professor about Rogue's newest development.

*~*~*~*~*

The Professor asked Rogue if he could look through her memories at breakfast. She flat out refused.

"They're mah mem'ries and Ah don't particularly want ya crawling aroun' up there doin' god knows whaht."

And so breakfast continued. For Rogue anyhow, some of the others were a bit shocked at her brusqueness.

During the ride to school in Scott's car, Scott, Jean, Kitty and Kurt collaborated their excuses as to why they missed the previous day. Nothing that came up was even remotely believable.

The Professor had phoned the school, saying the students were sick, but students would ask them where they had been and just saying they were sick wouldn't explain anything.

Rogue walked to school and arrived minutes after everyone else.

*~*~*~*~*

Since they got to school rather late, no one really had to explain anything until lunch when people kept coming up to Jean and asking where she'd been.

"Oh, you know…just…sick." And a smile to help them on their way. For some reason, no one seemed to ask for more information.

At least until Pietro, Lance, Fred and Toad came up to the table.

"So where _were _you guys yesterday? We missed your disgustingly sweet superhero faces!"

"Buzz off Pietro!" Scott stood up with a clenched fist. Jean pulled his hand down with one of hers.

"Not now Scott! This isn't the place for it!"

"You're right Jeannie! Let's take it outside." Lance jeered at the redhead who jerked when he said Jeannie; her parents' nickname for her as a child.

But the damage had been done, and all the students were now crowding around, looking at them and asking what they had been sick with, how Jean had gotten sick when she was fine the day before and it was all the X-Men could do to keep them at bay.

It suddenly went quiet when Fred collapsed/crashed to the floor.

"Don't y'all have somethin' better ta do with yer lives than wonder about how one person got sick? Y'all are pathetic." The southern girl scoffed and people backed away to stare at the loner's new look.

The black skinny jeans and sweater were a far cry from what she normally wore and her make-up wasn't gothic either. Forest green and soft browns set off her eyes and dark red lipstick matched her sweater.

And she wore heels, surprisingly well considering she normally clunked around in combat boots. Her normal short hair had also lengthened to partway down her back and fell in luscious curls.

Kitty hugged herself and tried to keep a squeal in. The older girl would murder her if she found out she had stolen her clothes and done her make-up while she slept.

"Scott caught mah fever an' Jean ate some of the food Ah made while Ah was high with the fever an' got food poisoning; an' Kurt an' Kitty were havin' too much fun plahyin' Doctor after Kurt got sick from helpin' Scott."

Everyone stared at the girl in awe, especially the X-Men, though probably for different reasons. Damn that girl could lie good!

Kitty was currently fighting an embarrassed blush and staring at her, aghast for pairing her with Kurt. Kurt was grinning like a maniac for his implied hook up with the preppy girl.

"Satisfied? Now shove off and leave us alone!" All the students turned and left, though Scott was unsure if it was from Rogue's words or her glare.

"Nice job!" Rogue looked at him with a blank stare and then smirked. "Oh don' worreh, Ah'll git mah pound o' flesh outta ya somehow. Thaht's twice Ah've saved y'all. And, piece of advice, _learn ta lie!_" She turned and walked away from them all.

"Rogue!" Rogue pointedly ignore Kitty's squeal. Not that it made a difference when the younger girl ran after her and blocked her way. Rogue could've slipped passed her or incapacitated her in some way, but having just gotten rid of one scene, she didn't feel like creating another.

"Ah know whaht yer gonna say Kitty." She mimicked the girl's voice, which ended up being scarily similar, "'Why'd you like, make it seem that Kurt and I were like together?' Because Katherine Pryde, Ah don't lahke it when othahs mess with mah look or mah clothes! Y'unnerstand?"

Kitty ducked her head in embarrassment, Rogue had known all along, and nodded. Putting her with Kurt had been Rogue's revenge and it was a well-thought out one; she sighed.

Now all her friends were going to tease her about it. Sinking lower, Kitty made her way back to the lunch table the X-Men sat at and, pointedly ignoring Kurt, passed her lunch with friends.

*~*~*~*~*

Rogue sat outside under a tree thinking about how she'd found out it was Thursday and two whole days had disappeared from her memory.

She'd wanted to ask the others about what had happened but had found them stuttering and stammering about their absences in front of a crowd.

Rolling her eyes, she laid a hand on Fred's arm that was light enough for him to not notice and moved to the back of the crowd when he fell over.

Then she'd lied for all of them 'cause they wouldn't be able to come up with something believable, they were so pathetic, and walked out.

Going back to her missing memories, it wasn't the first time it had happened to her. It only happened a few times as a child, but as her mutant power developed, it had become more frequent, though it still rarely happened.

"Thanks."

She looked up, startled by the sudden presence of Scott. Inwardly she cursed herself for not noticing his approach.

"Well y'all looked pathetic jus' standing there like deer in th' headlahghts."

Scott let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah well, it's never really been a problem before. Jean can use a little psychic suggestion and that usually works fine. I'm thinking that the Brotherhood didn't like that we got away with it and tried to stir up trouble which might make us-"

"Scott?" Scoot looked down at the girl who interrupted him. She had a book open and wasn't paying him the slightest attention.

He felt a little off-put by this. He was used to people acknowledging him, boys for his leadership and girls usually for his looks, though he tried not to let it go to his head.

And he'd heard that Rogue had a crush on him, so why was she ignoring him?

"Ah really couldn't care less abou' yer analysis of why the Brotherhood bothered y'all." She closed the book.

"Now since Ah've saved yer asses twice and y'all owe meh, why don' Ah start with you?"

"Except you're the one who attacked everyone yesterday, so really, we only owe you for one thing."

"And that makes perfect sense. Except for the part where Ah don' remember anything that happened these past two days, so ya can't really fault me for that. Ah'll even lay out my scoreboard for ya."

Players and scoreboards, Scott mentally chuckled. Well, she remembered that comment at least.

"Ah saved Jean after Fred knocked you, _and_ Logan, out while trying to rescue her; so ya'll owe me fer thaht. I saved yer lahfe after we fell on thaht stone bridge when Mystique attacked us by showing Storm and Wolverine our position when they otherwahse wouldna found us.

"Ah jus' saved y'all rahght now from makin' a huge blunder about' how y'all got sick. And Kitty owes meh lahke fahve for stealing my clothes and make-up, leaving meh wear these ones and putting make-up on while Ah was asleep!

"And Ah helped y'all with Fred even after Kurt ignored meh and _you_ accused meh o' helping him!"

Rogue sent a glare his way and he ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed and a little ashamed.

"As it stands, Jean owes meh two, Logan owes meh one, Kurt two, Kitty six, Storm one, Professor X one and you four. Ah owe Kurt one for knocking him out when y'all first tried to reach meh and the same goes for Storm.

So Storm owes meh nothing and Kurt's talleh is now one. The Professor is housing me and giving meh food, so that strahkes him from the list-"

"And you knocked Logan out twice last night and stole some of his powers, so I'd say he doesn't owe you either."

Scott crossed his arms.

"Fahne. So talleh is now, Jean-2, Kurt-1, Kitty-6 and you-4. Now since Ah'm sure the Professor will want y'all to tell meh anyway, it don' count as a favor to be paid."

Scott nodded his head in defeat. Damn, that girl had an entrepreneurial mind.

"Okay so, what happened over the past two days?"

Her plans of fine-tuning her money-making scheme/ impersonation were thrown out the window, but she really wanted to know what she'd done. And dammit, her hormones were acting like butterflies whenever Scott was around! She'd really have to work on controlling that.

Scott sat down, Rogue moved away as Kitty had hidden her gloves as well, and he recounted the days' events for the rest of lunch.

--


	5. Chapter 5

Posted: Feb. 11, 2010 during my lecture (totally not paying attention *sighs*)

_Scott sat down, Rogue moved away as Kitty had hidden her gloves as well, and he recounted the days' events for the rest of lunch._

*~*~*~*~*

Since, they both had the same class after lunch, Scott and Rogue walked there together. People in the hallways saw them walking close together and speaking in low voices and rumors spread about the newly christened 'couple'.

"…this has happened before?" He sounded accusatory; Rogue glared.

"Well it's naht lahke Ah go around doing it on purpose!"

He worried his forehead. "No, I know, sorry. It's just a little worrisome."

"Those previous times, when you blacked out for a time period of more than a few hours, what happened?"

Rogue sent her mind back to things she never thought she'd look at again.

"Well, it began happenin' more frequently when mah mutation developed; but it happened a couple tahmes when Ah was a child."

She broke off, half immersed in memories.

"Rogue?" She snapped out of it. "Yeah?"

"Did that-"

"Miss Rogue, Mr. Summers, if you would kindly take your seats. Class is beginning."

They had made it into class, where everyone was staring at them, though the teacher glared.

"We'll finish up later." His hand drifted across the small of her back as she took a seat and then he sat in his.

Paul gave a soft wolf-whistle and the class continued.

*~*~*~*~*

Jean heard the rumors about Scott and Rogue's new found couple-dom for the rest of the afternoon, and even though she was seeing Duncan, the thought of Rogue with Scott bothered her.

She did her best to put it from her mind, but it was hard when everyone was gossiping about it.

*~*~*~*~*

It was after classes had finished for the day that Duncan and a few of his buddies waited until Rogue came out of the doors to hassle her.

"So, waiting for your boyfriend Freak?"

Duncan's friends snickered at his comment. Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Oh definitely Duncan, cause Ah totally need a guy ta walk meh home."

"Well why didn't you say so? I can't say I'm hugely in to freaky people like you, but if you need someone to walk you home…I don't feel right leaving a girl like you to walk home alone since I doubt your idiot boyfriend would do something like that."

Scott had rounded the corner and saw Duncan and his friends hassling Rogue and was about to go to her rescue when he decided to stop and see how things were going.

_Freaky people like meh, huh sugah? Bet ya don't even know yer dating a 'freak'! And learn some sarcasm, or at the very least, ta recognize it! _

"Rahght…mah…boyfriend… Sorry, because Ah'm, ya know, a stupid girl 'n all thaht, _who_ exactly is mah boyfriend again…?"

"That shaded freak Summers!"

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Oh..! Rahght. Scott, mah boyfriend." She trailed off, completely disinterested, and continued making her way down the steps and to the road that would take her back to the institute.

"Hey wait up! When I said I'd walk you home, I didn't actually mean I'd walk. I'll give you a ride in my new car."

Her thoughts were once again interrupted by the blonde jock. Scott saw the look on her face and chuckled quietly to himself.

Rogue glared at the blonde before turning away. "Well Ah happen ta lahke walking home, so thahnks, but no thahnks Duncan."

Duncan looked at the girl who had turned him down. No one turned him down! He grabbed her arm.

"Really, I insist. My car is right over here, and maybe we can even get lost on the way?" His eyebrows waggled suggestively.

Scott saw the bulky jock grab Rogue's arm and immediately lifted a hand to his shades. But he needn't have worried as Rogue ripped her arm from Duncan's grasp.

Other students had started to gather at the commotion and were all watching with avid interest.

"Listen ya knucklehead! When Ah say no, Ah mean **no**! Ah don' lahke ya, Ah never have, and Ah hopefully never will! An' if Ah had ta choose between you an' Scott, Ah'd choose Scott _any_ day! Now piss off and let. Meh. Go!"

Duncan was angry about her rejection and got even angrier when she said she'd take Summers over him. When he didn't let go of Rogue's arm, she began to struggle and that only made Duncan hold her tighter and start dragging her to his car.

"Listen you freaky girl! When I offer you something, you don't refuse it! You accept it gladly and say thank you Duncan. No guy in this school, or even this town, would ever want a stupid, freaky, goth chick like you!

"You stand out like a sore thumb; you're a fucking loner, and nobody cares about you!"

Scott stepped out from his viewing place and opened his mouth to say his piece when Rogue did something.

Scott wasn't exactly sure _what_ she did, but one second she was being dragged behind Duncan, and the next, Duncan was in a heap on the pavement and Rogue was a few feet away.

A crowd had now gathered and they gasped when Rogue suddenly broke free and were now watching eagerly.

"Listen up, an' listen up good Matthews. When a girl says no, she don' mean yes! Y'aren't god's gift ta women. In fact, most o' the females in the school thahnk yer an idiotic musclehead. The only thahng ya got going fer ya is yer sports. And even then y'aren't that good!

"Ya don' man-handle females. It's rude and will give ya a bad reputation! Do naht ever touch meh again. Ah will naht hesitate ta beat yer ass! And trust meh, Ah can!"

Rogue was glaring at him for all her worth, the sunny skies started to brew stormy clouds, and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees.

The three boys who'd been with Duncan backed off slightly and Rogue turned around to pick up her backpack that she'd dropped when Duncan grabbed her.

"Hey Matthews, for what it's worth, I'd totally go out with a girl like her!"

People turned around to see Scott making his way through the crowd towards Rogue and several boys all hooted and cheered that they would too.

Completely ignoring everyone's whispers Scott looked at Rogue, "Mind if I joined you?"

She smirked. "An' here Ah thought ya were only bein' nahce cause Ah'm the new girl."

Rogue slung the bag onto her back and walked off chatting with Scott, his arm around her shoulders.

"Wow! They like, totally make a good couple!" Kitty was bouncing on her heels after watching the drama unfold at on the school's front steps.

"Really? I didn't think so. I mean isn't she kinda short for him?"

Kitty looked at Jean in confusion. She had been a bit moody ever since rumors of Scogue, as the girls were now calling it, had begun making their appearance.

"Wow Jean, I like, never would've taken you to be so shallow. If they like, like each other, then who like, cares right?"

Slightly ashamed, Jean clasped her hands behind her back. "Yeah…I guess so."

Once Kitty and a gaggle of other girls finished gushing about Scogue, the Institute students walked for a few blocks before Kurt teleported them the rest of the way.

*~*~*~*~*

Rogue spent that night trying to fall asleep and finally gave up around one in the morning. She was unused to such long hair. Making a quick clone, she handed over the scissors and trimmed it to her regular length.

That done, Rogue felt like herself again, but still, her mind was too restless. She was getting too close to people. She snorted. Okay, she was getting too close to Scott.

_Ah've been livin' here fer almost a week an' Ah still haven't set up my payment plan; I've gone crazy with powers that I really shouldna had, least not 'til Ah touched them; an' Ah realleh gotta make mahself stand out less._

Working her mind at a furious pace, Rogue created a clone that wouldn't need to eat or sleep and began setting up her faces.

Carole Schmidtt would be applying for a new job at the legal office downtown within the next week. She would apply for a part time job, 3-4 days/week and would be renting a small apartment in the middle class section of Bayville.

Rogue would search for apartments on the weekend and find a suitable place before sending over the down payment.

Raj DeMesduit is a dark haired college student of Spanish-French descent who is currently living with his 'aunt'. His parents have separated and he is having some troubles at home.

After taking his mother's maiden name, he was sent to live with her best friend in Maine until things calmed down in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

He was applying to a computer tech store where he would receive practical application of his school courses as well as make some money. He could only work part time due to personal reasons.

Jay Sitdka was an older African-Aboriginal male who was recently kicked out of his housing unit on trumped up charges. He took on a janitorial job at an oil and gas company in the industrial sector and worked the night shift.

Rogue looked over her plan and smile. Carole would be the main bread winner and pay for the housing bills, and Raj and Jay would supplement everything else.

Satisfied that everything was finally coming together, Rogue folded up her mental map and secured it in her vault before shrugging the warm covers over her body and falling asleep.

*~*~*~*~*

The weekend came and with it, Rogue's first purposeful absorption of Kitty Pryde; to dance no less.

So while Rogue outwardly groaned and complained, because she wasn't acting out her dislike for the small girl, she was gleeful about this prospect.

She had thus far, absorbed Scott, Jean, Kurt, Ororo, Logan and now Kitty. Unsure if she would ever want to absorb Spyke, she avoided touching him as much as possible. His arrogant attitude gave her reason enough.

It was during that dance with Kitty that Sabretooth attacked them and Rogue added another power to her arsenal. She also got fangs, claws, long shaggy hair and a ridiculously hairy body out of it.

So instead of searching for apartments that day, she spent the rest of the day, and a large majority of the night shaving.

She grabbed her box of razors, the cheap kind that gave you 10 in a pack and locked herself in the bathroom. Though not before she had some fun scaring people by sneaking up behind them and putting her hands, sans claws, onto bare skin and then saying hi.

It was funny to see them freeze or jump away depending on the person. But all of them were scared of her skin. And she laughed at them, saying how pathetic that was, but deep down, it hurt how much they shied away from her.

Even Scott jumped away from her touch. That hurt far more than she could understand. No matter the smiles he put on for her, the closeness he said they shared through their inability to control their powers, he was still scared of her and her power.

Everything he had done, everything he had said, was fake. Oh he was a good guy and all, but actions speak louder than words. And when he moved away from her in fear, well that spoke loudest of them all.

She hardened her heart once more, unsure of when it had softened. She knew what people were like, what their real natures were. She'd seen too much in her short life to really trust people.

And yet here she was, opening her heart to some guy who'd gone so far as pretending to be her friend just so she wouldn't join their enemies.

She snorted in disgust. She was not an X-Men; she never would be. From the day she was born, 'til the day she died, the only side she'd be on, is her own.

She finished shaving all the hair off, cut her hair for the second time in three days and wandered back to bed. She would propose an idea to the Professor in the morning.

*~*~*~*~*

Rogue found the Professor before most of the other students were up. They took a walk through the gardens and Rogue told him her thoughts.

"Ah'm not an X-Men. An' i's naht just a case of meh not feelin' lahke an X-Men, Ah'm **tellin'** you that Ah won't be participatin' in this super-powered team yer building. Ah joined up cause you promised you'd help meh control mah powers. That's why Ah'm here. If ya don' like that, fahne, Ah can leave, or Ah can git a job and start payin' you board."

The Professor was a bit startled; no one had ever rejected his methods before. They all trained as a team in the Danger Room and it was just accepted that when they were older and had control, they'd be a part of the team.

His eyes narrowed. In fact, none had ever seen his plan this quick. Rogue was a sharp one. And he needed her on his side. She was a key point, and would either take his team to new heights, or send them to the depths of hell.

Knowing there was nothing he could do now, he had nothing to keep her here, the Professor acquiesced to her request and then turned the conversation to training.

"Since Ah'm not takin' part in yer extracurricular activitehs, there aint much sense in meh doing the team trainin'. Instead Ah was thahnking about getting personal trainin' from Logan. He knows a lot o' martial arts and Ah could realleh use the brush up. Ah also thahnk his teachings would beh a lot more useful for mah style of fightin'."

The Professor set a frown upon his face at her use of the word fighting. Rogue noticed and thought to change it to defense, but really, she didn't feel like it.

If he wanted to act holier-than-thou, he could. She'd just ignore him like she did everyone else.

After knocking about a few plans and ideas on Rogue's new training regiment, they parted ways.

Rogue had told him that she was going to get a job anyway. She wouldn't be dependent on other people. She could provide for herself. She'd been doing it for almost ten years; why stop now?

--

A/N: Okay, so this is the end of my pre-written work. I do have a 2 week Olympic break and I'll do my best to get some more work done, but I also have several other projects going on at this time. So please be patient with me.

There is a quotation from "Stick It" and another from the manga series "Saiyuki". If anyone can pin-point them, congrats! I will either give you a virtual cookie and attempt a short piece of your choice (assuming I know the back-story/characters that you chose.

Again, thanks for reading!

August


	6. Chapter 6

Posted May 4, 2010

Hope y'all enjoy this chapter. And yes, I did just say "y'all". I quite like using that particular contraction. Please don't hate/abandon this story because of my quirks :p

_Rogue had told him that she was going to get a job anyway. She wouldn't be dependent on other people. She could provide for herself. She'd been doing it for almost ten years; why stop now?_

For the next week, Rogue would walk around town after school and look for places that were interested in hiring young people.

It was Thursday night before she found anything that even remotely interested her; though to be honest, it found her instead.

"Miss! Miss! Wait! Please wait!"

Rogue looked about, saw no one else around and so assumed that the voice meant her. Stopping her legs, she turned to see a mid-twenties male in tight black jeans and a semi-loose black sweater running up behind her.

When he stopped in front of her, leaning on his knees to catch his breath, she noted his silver wire glasses, tawny hair in a short pony and stormy blue eyes.

She leaned on one leg, a hand on her hip, eyebrow raised. "Can Ah help you?"

He smiled, straight white teeth showing. "Yes actually, you can! I hope anyway. My name is Marc and my boss and I have seen you walking passed our building for the past week and we're wondering if you're interested in working with us."

Rogue noted the 'with us', not the usual 'for us'.

"An' what exactleh is it that you and yer boss do?"

"Well I'm just the photographer, but we're a modeling company, mostly doing work for magazines and ads. But we thought you had the perfect look for one of our newest clients. It's a gothic/ fantasy magazine and we're hoping you can help us out."

Rogue, unable to deny her curiosity, wanted to know more. She hooked her arm around his. He put his hand on her cloth covered elbow.

"Leht's walk as we talk. Ah'm in'erested, Ah can say that much. But what'll Ah have tah do? How much will Ah be paid and since Ah'm still in high school, when will Ah work?"

"Well our first spread is a vampire one, and no offense, but because of your skin tone you'll get those the most often. Or similar creatures of the night. Since you're still in high school, though honestly I thought you were in college, you can work after school or on weekends.

"It'll really depend on our shooting schedule. Sometimes it'll just be a few weekends, others it might be after school and weekends. It varies. As for payment, I have no control over that, so you'll have to speak with Roger about that stuff."

They had reached the door to a three floored loft; the ground floor was the main reception and office area, with blown-up photos and magazine samples of their work on the walls and tables and of course chairs for waiting customers. The second floor was the printing/ computer area and storage for clothes, props and make-up. The top floor was where the main shooting was done.

As Marc explained, they sometimes did off-site shoots. They've been done in the park before, sometimes at a construction site. It depended if they could create it digitally or if it was just easier to get permission and move the shoot elsewhere.

Rogue spent the next hour and a half meeting with Roger about times they could meet and payment. For the first three months she would be paid a lump sum on a bi-weekly basis. Once the three months had passed she would be paid based on commission.

As the sun began to set, Rogue shook hands with Roger and Marc, took the info packet they'd given her and made her way home.

She'd worked out a training schedule with Logan. The X-Men trained in the mornings and sporadically on the weekends so she trained three times a week for four hours.

Saturday morning was the only set time, as the other two sessions would revolve around her schedule, Logan's schedule and team training.

Wednesday night was usually the day they would get together, though it would vary.

The third session would be broken up into smaller segments to allow for maximum opportunity.

Saturday morning dawned cool and crisp and Rogue was woken up by Logan at five to six. She was to be in the Danger Room, ready for training in five minutes.

She yawned and cursed herself for thinking up this idea.

At 10:30 Rogue stumbled out of the locker room, hair still wet from her shower. Logan had let her tap his finger to get a quick healing for the bruises covering her body. She couldn't show up at work with them; questions would be asked and it would be general unpleasantness.

Logan had made her show him the extent of her of her knowledge in traditional hand-to-hand fighting. Thinking back, she felt she had impressed him; or at the very least, surprised him with what she knew.

The next three hours had been filled with him filling up her repertoire. Simply put, beating her down until she finally did the defensive block correctly.

It took a while, though Logan had said she learned faster than the other students. She'd beamed with smug pleasure until she failed to block his next attack.

She ate a breakfast of bacon, eggs, fruit, milk, three cups of coffee, sausage and toast. All told, it was more than even Kurt ate. She grabbed a toasted bagel to go and walked out of the mansion. Stealing Logan's keys for his motorbike, she quickly took off and made her way to work.

She had arrived half an hour early and was immediately sent up to hair and make-up. A long white-blonde wig was place on her head and then gentle, rolling curls were created while soft peaches and pinks were painted on her face.

Small fangs were put on her teeth and once the hair creationists had finished styling her wig, she was sent to the clothing stylist. A few garments were laid out and she tried on all of them.

Marc finally decided on a cream dress that fell in dramatic swoops and pushed her cleavage up to a very visible state. It had a simple thick strap, no sleeves and made Rogue feel almost babyish.

When she saw herself in a passing mirror she thought she looked like some kind of demented angel, minus the wings.

She was seated on lush velvet cushions at the feet of another model-vampire. He said his name was Caleb and they chatted until Marc called for their attention.

The next several hours were spent taking photos of the new vampire and her sire. They contrasted day and night, Rogue in soft creams and whites, Christopher in dark black, greys, and reds.

Different positions, backgrounds and emotions were photographed and around four in the afternoon they switched shoots.

Rogue was dark faerie; midnight blues and dusky purples were highlighted with silver in intricate patterns across her face. A long pewter coloured wig was set atop her head and it fell in silky sheets across her back.

The slinky dress that clung to her skin was dark charcoal with dusty purple-grey glinting in certain light. It was strapless and the back scooped low, just above the swell of her backside. It was delicate silk and pooled on the ground as she walked.

Dark sceneries were set up and she was photographed walking through trees, floating in the moonlight, speaking to little flashes of light and a variety of poses on different pieces.

Her wings and all other mystical things that the artists couldn't easily make were added in digitally afterward.

Shortly after eight that night, Rogue changed back into her jeans and tank, had the make-up washed off her face and pulled a green hoodie over her head. Calling out goodnight to the others, she clipped on her helmet and started up Logan's bike.

As she roared her way through town, Rogue smiled at thoughts of her new job. It was a lot of fun dressing up and playing different characters.

_'And the pay aint too bad either!'_

Putting the keys back in their locked cupboard, she strolled through the mansion towards the kitchen. She grabbed a covered plate from the fridge that had her name written on it in Ororo's neat print and placed it in the microwave.

Kurt, Kitty and Evan walked in as she was walking out. The other three scrambled to avoid crashing into her and she ignored them to the best of her ability, which was pretty damn good!

"Hey man! Where were you all day? We had a training session this afternoon!"

Rogue barely glanced at him. "Not that i's any o' yer business Spahke, but Ah don' train with you losers. Ah have mah own training with Logan."

"Vhy do you get special training mein freund?"

Kitty sniffed and turned her head. "'Cause she like, totally sucks and doesn't know how to fight, obviously. Otherwise, why would Logan like spend extra time with her?"

Rogue turned around. "Actually Katherine," Kitty winced at her full name. "Ah don' train with y'all, cause mah skills are way above yer own. An' stickin' around fer 'team training' with a bunch o' incompetent people lahke yew aint gonna help meh up mah own level.

Ah'm taking personal lessons from Logan, cause Ah can learn things from him that y'all can't."

She turned and headed back down the hall. "An' Ah aint a part o' the X-Men. So why bother practice training with meh if Ah aint evah gonna be there?"

She left the three students with open mouths and quickly sauntered to her room. She had long since moved out of the shared room with Kitty and found an empty one that was slightly apart from the others.

As Rogue sat back on her bed and munched on mashed potatoes and meatloaf, she concluded that all in all, it had been a very productive day. Tomorrow she would shift into Carole and go into town to put a down payment on the apartment she'd checked out this past week.

Setting the plate on her bedside table, Rogue quickly changed her jeans for sweats and snuggled under her covers.

Finally, all was going right in her world.

Rogue woke up later than everyone else Sunday morning and pulled on a long-sleeved, fishnet top over her black tank and then her sheer green shirt over that. Clean white skinnies with black heeled pumps finished the outfit off.

Using the barest hint of telepathy, she managed to avoid the people in the mansion and made her way to the garage.

Logan was there, tending to his red cruiser bike. Not looking up but acknowledging her presence, he silently asked a question.

"Ah was wonderin' if Ah could use yer bahke tah go tah work from now on. An' if not, what vehicle Ah could use, or if yah know of a plahce where Ah can git mahself a car or bahke."

"Don't use my bike again. I'll take you to get yer own."

Rogue nodded and strapped on her helmet. Logan got on first and held it steady while she climbed behind him. Snaking her arms about his waist, Rogue made sure she wouldn't fall off if something suddenly happened.

Scott watched from a window as they whizzed along the driveway and then onto the road. Scowling, he couldn't help but notice Rogue's arms around Logan's waist and her head leaning against his broad back.

Wondering why this bothered him, he shook his head and turned away

Jean watched from the shadows as Scott followed Rogue with his eyes. A pang made its way through her heart when he scowled in jealousy and walked off, hands stuffed in pockets, shoulders hunched.

Logan pulled up to the junk yard and stopped the bike. Rogue climbed off and then he knocked the kickstand out.

"Ah'm getting mah bahke from a junk heap?" Her eyebrow raised in skepticism. Logan raised one of his own. Rogue shrugged, he knew what he was doing. She hoped anyway.

The guard called out a greeting that Rogue ignored. Logan grunted back his own greeting. The spent the better part of two hours circling around, Rogue answering any questions Logan asked until they found a nice little number that Rogue liked and Logan approved of.

Logan haggled the price down by almost a third and Rogue left a fair tip for the guard as they had to leave it at the junkyard until they could get a truck down to bring it back to the mansion.

The next four hours were spent going from shop to shop for specific parts that would either be replacing missing or broken-down, rusted pieces.

On their way back to Xavier's Rogue envisioned her new bike. It would be black and dark purple, because she liked those colors, and she was greatly looking forward to racing around the forested highways.

As she would be helping Logan put everything together, she would also learn about maintaining her bike.

As they drove into town with the pick-up, Rogue couldn't keep the smile off her face.

Her freedom was coming closer and closer. She was beginning to taste it.


End file.
